2019 Chinese Grand Prix

2019 Chinese Grand Prix
Race 3 of 21 in the 2019 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Shanghai International Circuit
Race details
Date	14 April 2019
Official name	Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2019
Location	Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai, China
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.451 km (3.387 miles)
Distance	56 laps, 305.066 km (189.559 miles)
Weather	Partly cloudy
Attendance	160,000
Pole position
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:31.547
Fastest lap
Driver	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	1:34.742 on lap 55
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Third	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2019 Chinese Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2019) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 14 April 2019 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. The race was the 3rd round of the 2019 Formula One World Championship, and marked the 16th time that the Chinese Grand Prix had been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The race also marked the 1000th World Championship race since the first World Championship race was held at the Silverstone Circuit in 1950. This is also the last Chinese Grand Prix until 2024 as the 2020–2023 Grands Prix were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Background

Championship standings before the race

Heading into the race, Valtteri Bottas was leading the Drivers' Championship by one point from Lewis Hamilton. Bottas's team Mercedes was leading the Constructors' Championship by 39 points from Ferrari.

Entrants

Further information: 2019 Formula One World Championship § Entries

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand in drivers for either the race or practice.

Free practice

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first practice session with Valtteri Bottas fastest in the second practice. Bottas was again fastest in FP3 on Saturday, however the session was brought to a premature end when Alexander Albon lost control of his Toro Rosso and hit the wall on the exit of the final corner, smashing into the wall rear-first with an impact of 49g. He would not compete in qualifying due to the damage sustained from the accident and therefore started from the pitlane.

Qualifying

The first qualifying session ended with no incidents with Valtteri Bottas setting the fastest lap of the session ahead of Charles Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton. Qualifying ended with the elimination of Lance Stroll, George Russell, Robert Kubica, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alex Albon, the last two of whom failed to set a time in the session.

The second qualifying session ended without incident with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest lap on the medium compound tyre. Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen also set their laps on the medium compound tyre. Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Pérez, Kimi Räikkönen, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris were eliminated from qualifying.

The third qualifying session ended without incident with most drivers having two chances to set a fastest lap. After the first runs, Valtteri Bottas was quickest with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel rounding off the top 3. When setting up their second runs, Max Verstappen was overtaken at turn 14 by Sebastian Vettel and both Renault cars, this prevented him from crossing the line before the end of the session. Pierre Gasly and both Haas cars were also unable to start a lap before the session ended as a result. At the end of the session, Valtteri Bottas was on pole position 0.023 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second. Sebastian Vettel qualified third. The rest of the top ten consisted of, in qualifying order, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hülkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean.

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:32.658	1:31.728	1:31.547	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.115	1:31.637	1:31.570	2
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:33.557	1:32.232	1:31.848	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:32.712	1:32.324	1:31.865	4
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:33.274	1:32.369	1:32.089	5
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:33.863	1:32.948	1:32.930	6
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:33.709	1:33.214	1:32.958	7
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:33.644	1:32.968	1:32.962	8
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:34.036	1:33.150	No time	9
10	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:33.752	1:33.156	No time	10
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:33.783	1:33.236	N/A	11
12	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	1:34.026	1:33.299	N/A	12
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	1:34.125	1:33.419	N/A	13
14	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	1:33.686	1:33.523	N/A	14
15	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1:34.148	1:33.967	N/A	15
16	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	1:34.292	N/A	N/A	16
17	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.253	N/A	N/A	17
18	88	Robert Kubica	Williams-Mercedes	1:35.281	N/A	N/A	18
107% time: 1:39.144
—	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	No time	N/A	N/A	191
—	23	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	No time	N/A	N/A	PL2
Source:

Notes

• ^1  – Antonio Giovinazzi failed to set a time during qualifying and was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.
• ^2  – Alexander Albon did not take part in qualifying after crashing in FP3 and was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion. He was required to start from the pit lane after changing his survival cell. He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Race

Lewis Hamilton won the race ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

At the start of the race Bottas got a bad start allowing Hamilton to lead into the first corner. At the fourth corner Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris collided which would cause Norris and Kvyat to retire later in the race, despite Kvyat receiving a drive-through penalty as the stewards blamed him for the incident. On lap 11 Charles Leclerc was ordered by Ferrari to let his teammate Vettel past. Nico Hülkenberg retired on lap 17 with an MGU-K problem. Daniel Ricciardo managed to score his first points of the season and his first points for Renault. Pierre Gasly got the first fastest lap of his career. It was also Mercedes' third 1–2 finish of the season and the first time that a team has managed a 1–2 in the first three races of a season since Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese did so for Williams in 1992.

The podium celebration

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	1:32:06.350	2	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	56	+6.552	1	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	56	+13.774	3	15
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	56	+27.627	5	12
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	56	+31.276	4	10
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing-Honda	56	+1:29.307	6	91
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	55	+1 lap	7	6
8	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	55	+1 lap	12	4
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	55	+1 lap	13	2
10	23	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	55	+1 lap	PL	1
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	55	+1 lap	10
12	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	55	+1 lap	16
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	55	+1 lap	9
14	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault	55	+1 lap	14
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	55	+1 lap	19
16	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	54	+2 laps	17
17	88	Robert Kubica	Williams-Mercedes	54	+2 laps	18
182	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	50	Collision damage	15
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	41	Collision damage	11
Ret	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	16	Power unit	8
Fastest lap: Pierre Gasly (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:34.742 (lap 55)
Source:

Notes

• ^1  – Includes one point for the fastest lap.
• ^2  – Lando Norris was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos.	Driver	Points
1	1	Lewis Hamilton	68
1	2	Valtteri Bottas	62
	3	Max Verstappen	39
1	4	Sebastian Vettel	37
1	5	Charles Leclerc	36
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos.	Constructor	Points
	1	Mercedes	130
	2	Ferrari	73
	3	Red Bull Racing-Honda	52
3	4	Renault	12
1	5	Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari	12
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.